The Edinburgh Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world and attracts a multi-cultural mix of performers and audience members.

We’re pleased to report this year there’s going to be a very strong contingent from Northern Ireland.

We’ve picked out eight of NI’s comedy heroes who’ll be doing us proud over in Scotland as they perform their new routines throughout August at venues around Edinburgh.

Shane Todd

Show Title: Holywood To Hollywood

Venue: Gilded Balloon – Balcony – 10.15pm

Shane, who has recently been given his own radio series by the BBC, will head to Edinburgh with his new show Holywood to Hollywood. Holywood, Northern Ireland is a small town that produces big names. Shane is miffed that the town council have yet to book him to switch on the Christmas lights. It doesn’t help that fellow hometown heroes Rory McIlroy and Jamie Dornan keep stealing the limelight. So Shane’s gone to the other Hollywood in a bid to keep up with his neighbours. What could possibly go wrong?

After the run at the Fringe, Shane’s show hits The Ulster Hall in Belfast on September 16.

Aaron McCann & Dave Elliott

Show title: Fathead & The Big Dog

Venue: Laugh Horse @ The News Room – 11.05am

Performing separately the show will cover the trials and tribulations of life, with Aaron chronicling what young people experience today and most importantly, things that annoy him. Dave reflects on life from a slightly older perspective and muses on having to grow up and be a man, but not quite being ready to do so…

Jimeoin

Show title: Renonsense Man

Venue: Venue150 at EICC – 7.30pm

Brilliantly observed, ever-evolving stand-up from acclaimed star of Live at Apollo, Royal Variety, Channel 4 Comedy Gala, Sunday Night at Palladium. Jimeoin recalls the familiar at a fantastically silly level, boiling his audience down to a tear-filled, gibbering mess.

Christian Talbot

Show title: C60

Venue: Underbelly Med Quad – 5.50pm

A whole C60 cassette of stand-up comedy about music, mixtapes and recording Top of the Pops off the telly. Join Christian Talbot, a comedian from Dublin who’s based in Northern Ireland, on journey covering great pop music myths, how best to retrieve a CD from a murder scene, starring in a Howard Jones video and turning down autographs from over-enthusiastic rock stars. Winner of the 2014 Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award.

Paul Currie

Show title: FFFFFFFMILK!

Venue: Heroes @ The Hive – 7.40pm

Northern Irish master of surreal nonsense and bohemian clownarchist, whose fans include Stewart Lee and Limmy. Come and get your surreal on, wipe all reason on the doormat before you crawl on hands and knees inside the mind flume of Paul Currie and get ffffffffmilky!

Ursula Burns

Show title: The Dangerous Harpist

Venue: Stand In The Square – 12.20pm

The most dangerous harpist in the world accidentally made an album when she got lost looking for Lidl. ‘Oh no, not again,’ she exclaimed, in botheration, ‘this always happens!’ She had never intended to become a harpist. She was just pretending to play harp because she had red hair and was from Ireland. She longed for the carefree childhood days when the circus kidnapped her from the burning bus on the streets of Belfast.

Martin Mor

Show title: #RoadComedian

Venue: The Stand Comedy Club 2 – 8.20pm

Jokes and stories from a life on the road from Martin Mor, a Northern Irish circus performer turned comedian with the ability to charm the pants off any room.

Micky Bartlett

Show title: Blissfully Ignorant

Venue: Gilded Balloon – Balcony – 5.15pm

Micky is entering the last year of his twenties and he isn’t prepared. Come join him in a journey through his own head.

Before he heads to Edinburgh he’ll be previewing the show with a gig at The Market Place Theatre in Armagh on July 30.